Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Dev Talks PS5/Xbox Series X Improvements

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the first entry in the series coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and it will make use of the power of those next-generation consoles, including the PS5's DualSense controller.

Speaking to GameSpot, lead game designer Tony Flame said players on PS5 and Xbox Series X can expect better graphics and smoother frame rates. He also stressed that, because there is cross-gen, cross-platform multiplayer, the studio has spent extra time making sure the game doesn't give players on more powerful machines an advantage.

"In general, with next-gen, we had to make sure that across the board, people would have a fair experience, no matter what platform they're on," Flame said. "So the graphics are going to be a higher fidelity--kind of like on PC. If you have a better graphics card it will run at a higher resolution, it can run higher frame rate. But we're paying extra care this time because of cross-platform play, that there is no inbalances due to any particular setting; that any setting that's available on one platform that could give a gameplay advantage is available on another, like the FOV slider, for example."

For the PS5 in particular, Cold War will use the DualSense controller's haptic feedback to make the guns feel more realistic by making the triggers rumble in such a way that it feels like a real weapon.

"The DualSense controller is pretty awesome. It's got new haptic feedback so when you're pulling the trigger, it's shaking, every time a gun fires there is a little motor in there that's firing every time," Flame said. "There is sensitivity on the trigger that represents the trigger pressure on a real weapon. All of that has been tuned in the game for each individual weapon. So it's quite a lot to take in, but it's pretty awesome, and it gives the guns a feeling like they've never had before."

Black Ops Cold War releases on Friday, November 13, for PS4, Xbox One, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more from this interview and more in the days ahead.

In a big change for the series, Black Ops Cold War will have "synchronized" XP and leveling with Modern Warfare and Warzone, and you can read more about that here.